Congratulations Dr. Fan!

Another lab member has successfully defended – this time we send our biggest congratulations to newly-minted Dr. Xiaoduan Fan!

Her dissertation explored how Mandarin speakers in China feel about gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language. Across a huge number of participants and multiple studies, she shows that a person’s linguistic gender ideologies are shaped by multiple factors including a growing polarization in the younger generations, and the mitigating effects of having personal connections to successful women. This kind of work is sorely needed to understand gender and language in the global context, as very few researchers have looked at linguistic gender ideologies outside of European / Western languages.

We’re expecting big things for Xiaoduan’s future. If you’re in need of a brilliant post-doc, I know where to find a good candidate!